Accused eBay hacker from Los Alamos jailed again

[InfoSec News <isn () C4I ORG>]

http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1007-200-4761093.html?tag=lh

By The Associated Press
Special to CNET News.com
February 8, 2001, 2:45 p.m. PT

The 21-year-old computer whiz accused of causing more than $1 million
in damage by hacking into eBay, Qualcomm and other prominent high-tech
companies was jailed Thursday after missing a deadline to make bail.

Jerome Heckenkamp, who was fired from his probationary position at Los
Alamos National Laboratory after his arrest last month, failed to post
a $50,000 bond by Feb. 1 as ordered by a federal judge in San Jose.

Heckenkamp contends he doesn't have the assets to secure the bond. His
attorney, Jennifer Granick, has said Heckenkamp's father refused to
put up his house as collateral because he believes his son is being
harassed by the authorities.

However, Ross Nadel, chief of the computer crime unit at the U.S.
Attorney's Office in San Jose, pointed out that the father, Thomas
Heckenkamp, had told reporters he was willing to put up the house, but
Jerome Heckenkamp refused.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Patricia Trumbull ordered Heckenkamp to find a
way to make bail by Thursday afternoon and had him jailed in the
meantime.

Heckenkamp already had surrendered last week in Albuquerque when he
failed to make bail but was released the same afternoon because there
was no arrest warrant at the time.

Heckenkamp is accused of hacking or trying to break into computers at
eBay, Exodus Communications, Juniper Networks, E*Trade, Lycos and
Cygnus Support Solutions in 1999. In a separate case in San Diego,
Heckenkamp is accused of hacking into Qualcomm computers in 1999 to
intercept user names and passwords.

Also, federal investigators are looking into allegations Heckenkamp
had engaged in hacking while at the University of Wisconsin.

All the alleged incidents occurred before Heckenkamp was employed at
the government lab in New Mexico. The allegations that led to the
federal investigations turned up during Heckenkamp's Los Alamos
background check.

The charges carry up to 85 years in prison and $4 million in fines,
though federal sentencing guidelines would dictate a much lesser
punishment.

ISN is hosted by SecurityFocus.com
---
To unsubscribe email LISTSERV () SecurityFocus com with a message body of
"SIGNOFF ISN".